Over the years, I’ve heard many variations of “we can’t do Agile”:
Agile doesn’t allow for proper thoughtful design.
Our project \ organization is too big to do Agile.
Agile is really just a dev thing.
Agile just isn’t reality.
I realize that behind every single “we can’t do Agile” statement, there’s a story. My intent here isn’t to delve into the stories of Agile woe… rather, I would like to open a small crack for the “we can’t do Agile” crowd.
Consider…
1. Have you ever stopped yourself from sending an email, and instead decided to walk over and have a conversation with a team mate?
2. Have you ever argued to make the right fix on your project, even if it went against the requirements \ spec document?
3. Have you ever sought out feedback from your customer or end user in order validate your understanding of a project?
4. Have you ever adjusted your project plan in light of new feedback (user based or technological)?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you successfully “did Agile”! Consider the values of Agile below and review the questions above again respectively…
1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
2. Working software over comprehensive documentation
3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
4. Responding to change over following a plan
Viewed in the light of Agile values, many teams are already adopting Agile methods… albeit implicitly. Embracing these values in a more explicit fashion opens a door of possibilities… among these possibilities would be to let go of the idea that “we can’t do Agile”.
InsideOutAgile 